Chapter Text
When Megumi's alarm clock started blaring at about 5:15 in the morning, he immediately grumbled and shut it off. He knew his dogs had an appointment today, but that wasn't until 12pm. Megumi didn't know why he set his alarm clock so goddamn early, but he rolled over and had prepared to go back to sleep. Until Shiro, his white dog, somehow managed to get into his room and onto his bed. Megumi groaned audibly as he felt the dog lay down directly on his feet. Which was annoying, Megumi didn't like keeping himself still in his sleep.
"Shiro, off." He grumbled, but the dog didn't seem to want to move. All it really did was tilt it's head as if it had never heard that command before. Which was bullshit, Megumi knew that. But he decided to let the dog stay on the bed, those puppy dog eyes were something he'd always fall for no matter the circumstances. He could literally be on fire and if his dogs wanted a treat, he'd still give one to them.
"Come here, then." Megumi then said, letting out a second sigh of defeat. When the dog got into cuddle range, it's tail began wagging very quickly as Megumi began petting it in a slow and repetitive motion. He was content like this, despite how tired he was at the moment. He liked animals, especially his animals. Megumi would have fallen back to sleep, if not for the sudden and loud sound of glass crashing in the kitchen which had, as a result, scared the hell out of him and his dog.
His eye twitched, this was the moment he knew that he wasn't going back to sleep at all today, it honestly kind of ticked him off and soured his already tired mood a bit. So reluctantly, he got out bed and walked into the kitchen. To his displeasure, it wasn't a break in or a robbery. It was Satoru accidentally breaking shit at five in the morning. A scowl washed onto his face.
"What the hell are you doing?" Megumi asked, catching Satoru's attention along with a very annoying smile.
"Your sisters' birthday is coming up, so I'm making a cake." Satoru proudly announced, putting his hands on the counter as if he was a professional. In reality, Megumi would rather die than have to witness this display of pure cringe. For a moment, he was confused because as far as he was aware, he only had one sister and it was Tsumiki. Then he remembered, Nanako and Mimiko. Right... he'd accidentally forgotten about them, not because he hated them but because it was five in the fucking morning.
"Keep it down." Megumi told him with a deep frown. But instead of doing what he was told to, Satoru shrugged.
"It's best you get up now, they rescheduled your dogs' appointment for seven-thirty in the morning." That one sentence made Megumi pause. What? They'd changed the time? Why? Why was he only finding this out now instead of days prior? Megumi hated when plans unexpectedly changed, especially if it was an annual appointment that was supposed to happen at the same time on the same day of the same month. Were they just changing things around? It pissed him off. 'Shit,' Megumi cursed inwardly to himself and crossed his arms with a grumble. Satoru's seemingly carefree behaviour suddenly seemed to falter slightly.
"Hey, I know you don't like it, and I'm sorry they couldn't have told us sooner. If it makes you feel better, they only told me about an hour after you'd gone to sleep last night. I'm pretty annoyed about it, too." Satoru attempted, and it seemed to work for the most part. Megumi nodded and sighed, pulling up a chair to the counter so he could let himself wake up a little bit. So he had, instead of all morning, two hours to get dressed and get the dogs ready to go. Wonderful, just absolutely amazing.
"...What flavor cake is it?" Megumi eventually asked, earning a prideful grin from the white haired man. "Vanilla, just like they requested." He seemed to take a lot of pride in the fact he'd listened to what Mimiko and Nanako wanted, and Megumi didn't understand why he did. Wasn't it a natural instinct to listen to people? Did Satoru not do that a lot growing up or something? Whatever, Megumi couldn't bring himself to care about that odd detail.
"Just don't drown the cake in frosting, I don't think Nanako would like that." Megumi warned him, his eyes moving from the floor to the cake. Despite how annoyed and pissed off he was about the sudden schedule change, he'd cope with it...somehow. He didn't know how, but he'd figured it out. And then he realised something halfway through his thought process.
"Wait. Why are you baking at 5 in the morning?" Megumi asked, getting up from the counter to find the dogs' harnesses. They were pretty well behaved at the vet, so he wasn't worried. But he did need them on a leash when he left the house, which would be sooner rather than later. All he could think of was all the other people who got their vet appointments rescheduled without any form of discussion or consent. He was sure there was someone who was more disheartened about it than he was.
Satoru shrugged. "Got up early and decided I didn't have anything else to do with my time." He answered simply, it was almost suspicious how bland that answer was. But Megumi didn't care anymore, he needed to feed the dogs and then take them outside to go to the bathroom, then had to take them on a small walk before they went to the vet. Thankfully, he kept the leashes and harnesses in the exact same place and never moved it around.
Throughout the apartment, it was pretty silent. The sun hadn't fully risen yet, so Yuji was still perfectly content with being asleep. That is, if you can consider the idea of being content while asleep. Unfortunately, rather than an alarm clock waking him up, it was his annoying ass cat jumping on his face and startling him enough to fall off the bed.
"Hey! What was that for?! I get that you're annoyed all the time but come on!" Yuji yelled out. But the cat, or rather Sukuna as he was named, did not seem to care about the scolding in the slightest. Yuji grumbled to himself but stood up and pulled his phone off the nightstand that resided next to his bed. When he turned it on, his eyes were met with a notification that read:
"Your vet appointment was automatically rescheduled for 8:00 AM due to a policy change."
Could they even do that legally? Yuji stared at the notification in bewilderment. Wasn't an annual schedule supposed to stay the same? Why were they suddenly deciding to automatically reschedule without asking for any form of consent. No, screw that, any explanation? The notification was so short that he had to check to make sure he wasn't completely insane and just imagining it. Yuji could be flexible, sure, but...at least explain it to him. Someone could argue that 'a policy change' was a perfect explanation, but it was vague and didn't really clear anything up. Well, he guessed there was nothing he could do about it. The clinic had clearly made their decision, so he just had to deal with it like everybody else did.
"We'll have to leave early. So I'm gonna get dressed and you're gonna cooperate with me." Yuji told Sukuna, who simply eyed him in response. Despite that cat not being as big as a human being, his gaze was so judgemental that it felt like he could hear the cat verbally talking to him: "whatever you'd like to think, brat." But once again, maybe Yuji was going insane. It wouldn't be far fetched, he'd heard of people completely losing themselves after a loved one passed and his grandpa had just died a couple weeks ago. But there was no use for thinking about things like that now, so he started moving to get dressed.
Quickly, he got out of his pyjamas which consisted of a t-shirt and shorts, and instead threw on a different t-shirt along with some random pair of pants he'd found. He wasn't a fashion expert or anything, he usually just threw on whatever he had in his closet. Normally, he wouldn't have worried about time seeing as it was still pretty early. However, Sukuna was always a pain to get into the car carrier and would often protest it until the last minute. He really was the worst cat someone could have, but it'd be cruel to leave him out on the streets to die.
Well, and also because he would bite people for no reason and then probably get put down because someone would think he has rabies. That was one thing Yuji quickly figured out in his time of owning this cat, he would bite with no hesitation or even a little bit of second thought. Which was definitely a pain both metaphorically and literally, but a healthy cat who was just annoyed all the time was better than a sickly rabid cat who was gonna die in about a week. Yuji also had to feed him, or he'd be even more pissed all day. And also it would be neglect to just not feed him.
So he left his bedroom and went over to the kitchen cupboard where he kept the cat food. "Eh, we're almost out already?" He mumbled to himself, but the second he had, he felt the very disapproving gaze from Sukuna behind him. Thankfully, he wasn't out yet, but he would be soon, so he mentally made a note to pick up food after the appointment. While he was eating, Yuji decided to have a quick snack too so he didn't starve in the veterinarian's office. But he'd probably stop for something more filling on the way. By the time Sukuna had finished with the food, he sat on the counter and continued staring as Yuji slowly and carefully put the carrier on the counter.
"Come on, don't bite me for the 40th time and just go in there like you're supposed to." He asked, as nice as he could, which seemed to...work for once? That was suspiciously easy, normally Sukuna would have an entire fit about it and make Yuji chase him around the house for an hour. When Yuji gave him an extremely puzzled look, Sukuna stared back. "Close it before I change my mind." And that was Yuji's cue to nod and close the door to the carrier. Sukuna also never really liked the vet as most cats didn't, but he was extra pissed whenever he had to go for whatever reason.
He picked up the carrier once he'd made sure all the lights in the apartment were turned off and walked over to the door to put his shoes on. Hopefully Sukuna didn't cause a scene at the vet (again), but he wouldn't be surprised if he still tried to. He was already being weirdly cooperative, so it wouldn't surprise Yuji if the cat decided to ruin that the second they walked in.
The streets were dimly lit up by the rising run, but it was still pretty dark out. There weren't many people outside at this time in the morning, understandably so, so Yuji pretty much had the entire area to himself minus the few people coming home from a night shift job. But it wasn't raining, it looked like it'd probably be a sunny day later on if clouds didn't change that and block the rays of the sun and sky. Unfortunately, he happened to walk by two dogs that had been sniffing the grass very intelligently and that immediately set Sukuna off.
The cat in question began loudly hissing at the dogs as if they'd personally offended him while trying to stick his paws out of the front of the carrier to attack them, and even though it failed due to a number of reasons, he was still trying to get over to them. Yuji immediately walked away quickly while mouthing a "sorry" toward the owner, who he hadn't really gotten a good look at since he was trying to stop causing a scene. Thankfully, the owner and the dogs were the only people close enough to see that unfold and that could spare him some embarrassment.
Megumi stared in disbelief as the stranger walked past him, his dogs even more confused than he was. They hadn't barked at the cat, or even tried to sniff the carrier, or show any signs of interest. Why the hell did that thing react like that? Honestly, he mostly just felt a little bad for the owner, that cat seemed like a huge pain in the ass. He was glad that wasn't him, he'd die of embarrassment if his animals ever started acting out of line like that. But he was vaguely aware of the fact that you couldn't really make a cat listen, half the time they'd continue to do what you didn't like out of spite.
Either way, he quickly forgot about it and began heading back to the apartment with his dogs. He only had about an hour left at that point, and he was quickly falling tired once more. It was a shame his appointment had been automatically rescheduled, because he wanted nothing more than to fall back to sleep again.
On the flip side, Yuji was somewhat quietly scolding his cat for whatever the hell that stunt was. "What's wrong with you?? What did those two really cute dogs do to you?" Yuji asked, but was not met with an answer this time. So he decided to chalk it up to Sukuna doing random shit to get him yelled at, thankfully the owner of the dogs didn't come storming up to him and demanding an answer about why his cat was literally insane. Yuji wasn't sure he'd be able to explain it without sounding like he needed to be locked up in a mental asylum.
So he let out a sigh and continued walking towards the clinic. When he arrived, it was approximately about six fourty-five, since he'd stopped to get something to eat, in the morning, so he was a little early but it was better to be early than late. After he confirmed a few things with the receptionist, he took the carrier and went to wait in the waiting room. He didn't really have much to do aside from sit and zone out, it wasn't like he had many games on his phone or anything. He mostly just got it so he could schedule doctors and vet appointments. He kind of liked scheduling those types of things, if he were to be honest.
When Megumi walked into the vet, his eyes immediately glanced at Yuji which made him pause. Satoru gave the boy a curious look, then looked at Megumi. "You know him or something, Megs?" He asked, not really seeing what was so special about him yet aside from the fact that the cat in the carrier was actually pretty cute, in an ugly way, but still cute.
"Yeah, his cat was being was being fucking crazy." Megumi mumbled in response, his dogs immediately pulling on the leashes he'd been holding to try and go say hi to the other guy. Unfortunately, they didn't win and Satoru had stolen first place. He examined the kid a bit, he was incredibly zoned out to not even notice somebody staring at him. It reminded him of himself, in a way.
"Hey, kid. What's your cat's name?" Satoru asked, way too casually, which seemed to snap Yuji out of his little daydream session. In fact, he thought he'd missed his appointment already until he looked at the clock.
"His name's Sukuna. He's not friendly though and jumped on my face this morning." Yuji responded, Megumi thought it was a little weird that he was so open with this strange man who'd just approached him and even showed off a pretty nasty scar to the adult without acting like it hurt. But it had to have hurt, it was bright red which matched the colour of blood. Megumi cringed at the sight. Thankfully, so did Satoru.
"Yikes. You might wanna get that checked out. I have a friend who's in the medical if you wanna come with us when your appointment's done." Satoru offered. It really did sound like he was about to kidnap this kid, and the most concerning part was he agreed to it? Megumi was so confused by what he was seeing at the moment. Was stranger danger ever taught to this guy? Who raised him and why was he being an idiot?
"Uh, okay. Sure, I guess." Yuji replied with a shrug. Sukuna looked at Satoru and immediately hissed extremely loudly. Satoru smiled, he would take that as a compliment. When he did, Sukuna then stared meowing as loudly and as annoyingly as he could. He hated it here.
"I'm being neglected! This child doesn't feed me!" Though, he seemed to forget that nobody else could hear him 'talk' like Yuji could. And the pink haired boy was very offended by these claims.
"I fed you this morning, though?" Yuji muttered as to not look completely insane to the...two other people that stood in somewhat close proximity to him. Satoru liked this kid, he was funny without even trying to be.
"Don't worry, my kid talks to his dogs all the time. You're not gonna look insane or whatever." Satoru assured, pointing to Megumi. He absolutely did not ask to be apart of this conversation nor did he want to socialise so early in the morning, so his shoulders instinctively tensed. When Yuji's eyes locked onto him and the dogs, who still desperately wanted to greet him, his mind went completely empty. The smartest thing he could think of to say was something that probably didn't matter.
"Uh... I'm so sorry about my cat and that he hissed at your dogs, they're very cute. He's deranged." Yuji said, very dumbly, but who could blame him? He had a total of two friends and this other guy who looked to be his age seemed way cooler than him. He looked like the type to be in a rock band, famous and popular, graduate early, overall he looked so much smarter. He also looked to be the type to study well and not get distracted every couple of seconds, he also probably had so many friends and so many girls wanting to be with him. In short, he was very cool and Yuji suddenly became extremely mortified with how Sukuna had behaved. Admiration was a powerful drug, apparently.
Megumi's puzzled expression didn't shift for a second, why was he staring at him like that? It was a little unnerving. "It's...fine, I guess. It's not like you can control him." Megumi responded just as lamely, but obviously Yuji didn't see it as lame based on the way he continued to stare. The dogs started whining at Megumi, practically begging to go over, so he sighed and gave in to their demands. With a very cool attitude, he walked over and allowed the dogs to check him out. Yuji seemed very confused by the onslaught of dogs, the total number being two, who seemed so interested in him despite Sukuna's antics.
"Aw, they like you." Satoru commented, moving over to sit next to the carrier while Yuji was occupied with petting the dogs until they were fully content. Megumi gave him a certain look, still just somewhat blankly looking on at his dogs having the time of their lives. What was so special about this kid, anyway? I mean, aside from his hair colour, he seemed pretty average. The cat in the carrier gave Megumi a very judgemental look, this poor kid had a lot to deal with.
"Fushiguro." The receptionist called out, immediately gaining Megumi's attention. Apparently an hour had already passed, maybe it was good he'd gotten up early against his own will. He quickly rounded up the dogs and followed a veterinarian to the back of the building, where the examinations would be held. Yuji mentally noted the name, but then looked back at his cat who seemed displeased with the amount of attention the dogs received.
"If you didn't bite and scratch me all the time, maybe I'd pet you." Yuji said casually, which got a very weird sound out of Sukuna. So clearly, he wasn't happy. Satoru laughed, which had scared the hell out of Yuji since he assumed that the adult would've gone back with Fushiguro if he was the guardian.
"Why didn't you go back with him? Aren't you looking after him?" Yuji questioned curiously, tilting his head slightly. To Satoru, this kid was just like a golden retriever. Dumb in an endearing way that made you want to protect him from any evil in the world, which is a normal feeling that every adult has about a 15 year old they just met and Satoru was not being parental towards a complete stranger.
"Nah, he doesn't need me for that. He's got it all figured out." The statement accidentally confirmed Yuji's theory about Megumi being insanely cool and awesome, which was not even remotely true. From what Satoru could see, the kid didn't really get along with classmates and hated his homework because it never made sense to him. But, of course, Yuji didn't know that. To him, Megumi was composed and had his entire life figured out at the age of fifteen. Yuji wished he could be like that, but he was often pretty indecisive and didn't really know what he wanted to do when he graduated high school even though his classmates seemed like they had a clear understanding of what they wanted.
Satoru stopped talking after a few seconds, his gaze which was mostly hidden by his sunglasses drifting over to the kid next to him. The boy didn't have any parental figure with him, so he must've walked here all alone in the early morning. He didn't know what his home life was like apart from his cat being genuinely crazy, but he felt for the kid.
"Yeah. He seems like he knows a lot." Yuji commented without thinking, occasionally looking up at the clock to see what time it was. That one sentence made Satoru somewhat aware of what the issue was, that Yuji didn't see Megumi as asocial or socially awkward because they only had brief interactions. He was under the impression that Megumi had his entire life planned out, which could not be farther from the truth. Even Megumi still had no idea why his teachers constantly mentioned university, he'd often complain to Satoru about it. Or Suguru if he wanted genuine advice, but the point still stood very strong.
Satoru was at a bit of a loss for what to do. On one hand, trying to act parental towards a kid you barely knew could easily be misinterpreted by others as something sinister. But on the other, the kid looked a little lost. He was still smiling so he wasn't too upset and his tone was pretty light, but that still wasn't enough to cover up the obvious difference between him and most other 15 year olds.
"I'm sure your parents will help you figure it out." Satoru said vaguely, only to immediately be shot down when Yuji replied.
"My parents died in a car crash while bringing me home from the hospital." He said that extremely nonchalantly, which Satoru should've expected considering the kid never really met his parents, but it was still extremely jarring to hear. It made Satoru wonder, how did the kid survive, then? Two adults had died but their newborn child lived, it seemed almost impossible.
"Oh. Uh, sorry about that. Any other relatives you're living with? Grandparents, aunts, uncles, anyone?" Satoru asked again, this time a frown forming on his face. If this kid was living alone with no means of financial support, he'd have to take action.
"Nah, my grandpa died a couple weeks ago. I've just been covering rent and cat food expenses with the inheritance money he left." And there it was. Satoru mentally cringed, this poor kid not only lost his caretaker (presumably), his cat was insane and seemed to dislike everybody. That money wouldn't last forever, Satoru was extremely aware of that. Sooner or later, the kid would be out and without food or any means to take care of his cat. Sure, the thing may be insane, but it still deserved food. This guy was extremely unfortunate and yet he persisted, it was fascinating.
"Why don't you come back with us? I know I offered it earlier, but I'm worried about you, kid. Mind giving me your name?" Satoru offered again. Well, it was less of an offer and more of a 'please do this thing so I don't need to worry' type of deal. He normally wouldn't verbally tell a strange but nice kid he met that he was worried about him, but special situations had special exceptions to that rule. Yuji tilted his head, but nodded regardless.
"Itadori Yuji." He introduced. Satoru repeated the name in his head a couple times, it definitely fit him. He couldn't imagine this kid having any other name, it was something his brain simply couldn't come up with. After a moment, he nodded and stood. Not because he was leaving, mostly because he was tired of sitting and needed to move around.
"Itadori, it's got a nice ring to it. The name's Gojo Satoru." He introduced, outstretching his arms around a bit. Yuji nodded, having nothing else to really say to that information. Around 30 minutes later, Megumi walked out with two perfectly healthy and content dogs. Yuji's name had been called in return, so he took the carrier and followed the doctor to where Megumi had previously just been.
When he was gone, Satoru stopped Megumi from starting to leave so he could explain the situation. With a breath, he started.
"I know you don't like big changes like this, but that Itadori kid will have to stay with us because whatever money he has left over now isn't gonna last forever and he's got nobody taking care of him. Well just turn the guest room into his, not like anyone uses it." Satoru explained. Normally, Megumi would protest a sudden decision like this, but he honestly was surprised to hear the other kid, or Itadori as he now knew, didn't have anyone taking care of him considering how that carrier looked pretty decent and not very cheap.
"Makes sense. That cat's gonna be a pain in the ass, though." Megumi muttered, being cut off by a very loud yell from the room Yuji had been lead into. Well, that wasn't a good sign. Satoru shrugged, he liked a good challenge. Sure, that cat was batshit insane but he was a part of the deal in this situation.
"We'll figure it out."